So yesterday I did a thing, and I couldn’t be more pleased with my decision.
After driving several hundred miles to the tiny Arizona town of Holbrook, I met a guy I didn’t know, checked out his car and decided to swap keys with him. As much as I tried, I just never fell in love with my Cosworth-engined Subaru Impreza STI, so when an opportunity arose to make a straight trade for a Lexus IS F, I did my homework and pulled the trigger.
It was a fantastic drive both ways, taking the STI on its last dance and playing stoplight to stoplight with a C6 Corvette, then leaving him in the rear-view mirror as we entered the Beeline Highway. On the drive home I enjoyed a spring drizzle while descending the Mogollon Rim in the new-to-me IS F. The smell of leather interior, warm tires and damp pine needles all commingled as I rapidly downshifted the 8-speed transmission, the throttle blipping with each gear, to take this photo as the sun peeked through the scattered clouds. It was one of those palpable moments that car enthusiasts like you and I live for.
The 5.0-liter V8 delivers an instant surge of torque that’s very different from the high-strung Subaru, and driving the IS F really gives you the sense that this is a special project from deep within Toyota Skunkworks. While these platforms aren’t known to have a ton of mods available, I don’t feel it needs much either as it’s already a very well tuned car to start with.
So will this be the next Speedhunters Project Car? Well, you know me….
Keith Charvonia
Instagram: SpeedhuntersKeith
keith@speedhunters.com